The Caribbean's Guana Island Is Having a Culinary Awakening

After this story went to press, Hurricane Irma had a devastating impact on the island, damaging the resort and surrounding flora. Because of that, Guana Island is currently closed for repairs. We still want to tell this story, and follow the beautiful island on the road to recovery. For the latest developments, please visit Guana.com.

Matthew Lightner wanted nothing to do with the Caribbean or Guana Island. As an alum of multiple two-Michelin-starred restaurants—

Then he caved. In 2012 he made his first trip to Guana, 850 acres of green rising out of the sea just north of Tortola, the largest of the British Virgin Islands. Settled in the 18th century by a couple of Quaker families, Guana was bought in 1975 by Henry and Gloria Jarecki—parents of the filmmaking brothers—who spent decades cultivating it as a nature preserve and resort with a laid-back approach to luxury.

Crab Grove on Guana Island.

Photo by Matt Hranek

Guana doesn’t have beach attendants. Cocktails are DIY, and you fetch your own beach towels. The decor in the whitewashed guest rooms and villas—which can be rented individually—consists of simple vintage rattan furniture and stucco walls. Guana’s decadence comes from its privacy and natural beauty. Ninety percent of the island remains wild, interrupted only by walking paths. And since the resort holds just 35 guests, evening meals play out like dinner parties.

For Lightner, though, the organic orchard, first planted 33 years ago by a Chinese ornithologist, was the draw. Three years ago, it was expanded to include an organic garden that started to feed a new farm-to-table effort, the kind of cuisine you should see throughout the region but don’t, largely because it’s cheaper to import food than grow it. “Caribbean farming has been decimated by cotton and sugar-cane,” he says. “But things grow like crazy there. Papayas taste like roasted hazelnuts and sugar.”

The island’s pull is getting harder for Lightner to resist: Last spring he stayed for two months, whipping up dishes like papaya gazpacho and eggplant jerk, grilled for hours over sea-grape wood until sweet and smoky. And while the resort’s chef, Xavi Arnau, who trained at Nobu in London and El Bulli in Spain, oversees the resort’s menu, Lightner’s taken on a consulting-chef role, luring guest chefs like David Kinch, Paul Liebrandt, and Dominique Crenn. “The salt air kisses everything growing there, like those small bananas,” Lightner says. “The next time I have a banana will be the next time I go to Guana.”